Kuzano

There are some default settings on your computer that may be shortening the life span of your Solid State Drive.

They are

File Indexing the hard drive
Defragging your drive
Page file too high, turn it off and max your RAM for your machine.

Two of these settings are default on new computers. These were acceptable with IDE and SATA drives.... somewhat. I have been encouraging turning OFF File Indexing for some years now, but the process may be harmful to SSD drives. (aside from all the other complexities of SSD drives and early failure)

There's plenty of information on this on the internet, if you need further documentation, but I will post here, just a simple post from Microsoft support.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/search-indexing-and-other-risks-to-a-solid-state/f5bd416e-0692-422b-acba-24c8ff7e241f

Personally, I lost three SSD drives to early failure before finding some answers. Hope you are not using SSD for backups.... Frankly you don't need the speed for data storage. SSD may be faster for OS and application running, but you can afford the loss of your OS and Apps, rather than your data.

Additionally, the higher cost of SSD drives, makes large SSD unjustifiable. You can run most OS and Application programs on a fairly inexpensive 250 Gb SSD. Pay less and have more reliability on commercial grade SATA drives if you must have secure storage.

SSD for operations
SATA (WD Black for instance) for storage

Turn off file indexing the drive
Set Page File parameters for how you use the computer
Do NOT Defrag.

Logically if you know what file indexing is, it's like a perpetual defrag of the hard drive all the time the computer is running since indexing only pertains to files on the hard drive.

Mr PC Loc: Austin, TX

Well said. I'm a computer guy and couldn't have stated all of this better. There are a limited number of read/write cycles that an SSD can handle before getting flaky and turning these defaults off will definitely save wear and tear. And your point about running the OS and applications on the SSD for speed and using SATA drives for storage is solid as well. Good job!

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Kuzano - Thank you for taking the time to give us such a lucid and detailed explanation. I'm not a computer guy, but understood two of your points pretty clearly. Would you mind explaining a bit more about "Page file too high" - where does this expression come from, why is it a problem and what SSD-equipped users should do instead?

altheman Loc: Christchurch, New Zealand

Win 8.1 doesn't de-frag ssd's as it comes with Trim (you may like to explain what that is Kuzano)
I have switched off indexing on my ssd and was asked the question do I want to include sub folders etc I said yes so I hope I have done the write thing as the computer started processing all the files on on my ssd. I also moved the index for the rest of my computer to the hdd.

Kuzano

Have to get back on the TRIM.

You DO want to turn off all, including files and folders on the SSD drive at least. If you do not include the files and folders, the process does not change the file attributes that include files in the indexing process. Therefore you have not necessarily caught all the instances where indexing may still remain.

Now let me say that I was turning off HDD file indexing long before SSD drives came into the market. File Indexing in it's original evolution was a visible performance drag on machine performance. In fact, the performance increase by turning of file indexing on SATA drive was noticeable. Been turning it off for years. It's also been recommended to turn it off whenever on researches it on the internet. Most articles say "turn it off".

When the computer uses file paging, my best simply explanation is that the paging sets up virtual space on the hard drive to act as RAM. Very inefficient and a poor excuse for not having enough RAM in the computer to go "outside" RAM for what I will non technically label as "fake" RAM. Those read/writes to use the hard drive to simulate RAM are damaging to SSD similar to what is happening.

Now, let me say that the last paragraph is not necessarily as technical as it needs to be to truly explain file paging for more memory. It's my best short explanation.

Those of you who have read most of my posts may be aware of how expansive I can be if turned loose. Trying to keep this simple...

There are tons of articles on the internet on these issues.

I am not thoroughly convinced SSD drives are a good solution for speed. So many other factors in proper computer configuration and build are as important, if not more.

I'm not using SSD's larger than 250 Gb and only for OS and Applications. Storage memory does not require speed on the order of Flash Memory, and less likely to fail, not to mention far less expensive.

Kuzano

Let me say something very short and simple about file indexing.

Defragging is a dedicated process, where you tell the computer to re-index fragmented files on the hard drive

File indexing is NOT VERY dissimilar to Defragging, but during the entire time the computer is running.

So, where the performance factor/result comes in is this:

Defragging happens while you are NOT using the computer.

File Indexing is essentially the same process, occurring while you are trying USE the computer.

You get faster results if you DO not use file indexing. However, in the case of SSD drives either process causes excessive read/writes to take place, so don't do either.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right. A lot of this info came with my Samsung SSD.

canoneer

Is any data available concerning typical ssd operational life and ease of replacement?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes. You can't go wrong with an SSD compared to an HDD. I replaced the HDD in my new Dell desktop and my old MacBook Pro. Not very difficult. It's just a matter of getting the software setup right.

http://lifehacker.com/how-long-will-my-hard-drives-really-last-1700405627

markly86 Loc: Humboldt County CA

Where do you turn off indexing?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

here you go -

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-turn-off-indexing-on-your-local-drives/

Good article -

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-turn-off-indexing-on-your-local-drives/

And for Win8.1 -

http://forums.yoosecurity.com/index.php?threads/windows-8-system-how-to-turn-off-the-indexing-service-ssd-drives.4222/

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You have to careful about reading old online articles about SSD's. They have gotten larger, cheaper, and more durable in the past few years. Although the common rule has been to turn off indexing, SSD's are as good as or better than HDD's in terms of read/write durability.

"Solid State Drives: Solid state drives, which have become extremely popular in laptops and desktops for their faster speeds, are different. You may hear people say that you have to be careful with SSDs because they have a limited number of reads and writes. In reality, consumer SSDs actually last a really, really long time under normal use. TechReport’s famous SSD endurance test showed us that a lot of those fears are over-blown, and even consumer SSDs managed to survive writing and reading well over 700TB of data. These drives usually come with a three to five year warranty, and manufacturers assume you’ll write 20GB-40GB per day in data. That means to get to that 700TB, you’d have to do 40GB every day for 17,500 days, or about 50 years. That doesn't mean you should mistreat your drive, and it doesn't mean SSDs won’t fail due to other issues, but if you’re worrying your SSD will die because you used it too much, don’t."

http://lifehacker.com/how-long-will-my-hard-drives-really-last-1700405627

Kuzano

Go to Libraries.
You should see the Hard drive c:\ on the left side of the screen, or the Folders and drives side

Right click on the hard drive icon.
Left click on "properties"
See the dialogue box with the "pie chart" hd
On that page see "file indexing" with a check mark in the box.
uncheck the box
left click apply

Now you are going to begin a series of questions starting with what choice of drive or drive-files-folders. Click in drive files and folders...

At this point I would encourage you to Google

Turn off file indexing

and find a page that prompts you through the right procedure.

Plenty such pages available on the internet as it is generally advisable (and has been for some time longer than SSD drives) to turn off file indexing. It's always a performance drag to have it running.

If you like, I have a handout page as a portion of my "clean up - speed up" your computer class at the local Community College.

PM me if you would like to see that page.

Vladimir200 Loc: Beaumont, Ca.

Wow ! Thanks sooooo much to all of you for such great info. I too have a primary SSD 250mb and secondary HDD 750mb with my O/S and exe all on the SSD and data file stuff on the platter drive. Well, I followed all of the advice all of you gave, rebooted my laptop, and Holy Speed ! ! The O/S not only booted up in about 20 seconds but found my WiFi too. Again, THANKS ! My one-year old laptop is acting like new life was just breathed into it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Could you post a PDF of that?